It just wouldn't make sense if the Grizzlies and Thunder didn't go into overtime. That's what we were thinking when the Grizzlies held a 20+ lead in the second half. But when Russell Westbrook picked Mike Conley's pocket for an uncontested layup, that's exactly what happened. This is now the fourth straight contest in the series with extra basketball.
Tied at 90 to start OT, Mike Miller hit two big threes and Memphis held onto a slim lead to take Game Five, and a 3-2 series advantage. The final moments had a couple moments of note. First, Kevin Durant stood at the foul line with a chance to tie, after sinking his first shot, ref Joey Crawford appeared to disrupt his rhythm to grab the ball and shout something (at this time we don't know what) at the scorer's table. No one will ever know if KD would've hit that second attempt, but it was definitely an odd moment for the NBA's resident diva official.
Secondly, as the clock ticked away Durant got off a desperate three-point attempt that would've given OKC a 102-100 victory at the buzzer. His shot attempt clanked but Serge Ibaka grabbed the miss and sunk the putback, the crowd went bonkers for about four-tenths of a second before the play was reviewed. The result? The headline should make it obvious.
Now the Thunder need to rattle off two straight "W's" to avoid the potential embarrassment of getting knocked off by the conference's 7-seed. We're guessing this is exactly what they meant when they called the West "deep."
